Obama to Release Evidence to Strengthen Case for Intervening in Syria

At some point later today President Obama will probably release something—a document? a video? a .gif? (likely not a .gif)—that will, if all goes to plan, convince skeptical lawmakers and the 61 percent of Americans who believe the U.S. should stay out of Syria that the U.S. has no choice but to head into Syria. “Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that whatever evidence the administration put forward would be the American intelligence community’s ‘most important single document in a decade,’” The New York Timesreports. O.K., so there is, like, a 99-percent chance it is not a .gif.

That said, despite the hopeful forecast of the “most important single document in a decade,” the Times notes that “American officials said Wednesday there was no ‘smoking gun’ that directly links President Bashar al-Assad to [last Wednesday’s chemical] attack [against Syrian civilians], and they tried to lower expectations about the public intelligence presentation.” (Noted! Expectations duly lowered.) “They said it will not contain specific electronic intercepts of communications between Syrian commanders or detailed reporting from spies and sources on the ground.” Is the evidence . . . larger than a breadbox? Does it smell? Could you take it on an airplane? Does it make a good gift? Will it “show proof of a large-scale chemical attack perpetrated by Syrian forces, bolstering its case for a retaliatory military strike on Syria”?

No, no, yes, probably not, and we shall see, respectively.

According to the Times, the evidence the administration will share “will be similar to a modest news release that the White House issued in June to announce that the Assad government had used chemical weapons . . . Based on that conclusion, Mr. Obama authorized a limited program of supplying the Syrian rebels with arms, which have yet to arrive.” Is the document . . . a gift receipt and a FedEx confirmation email proving that Obama did sent the rebels arms, and it is not his fault that they haven’t arrived yet, but no he definitely did not forget?